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Report: Blue Jays ‘heavily involved’ in lefty relief market

By Keegan Matheson

Oct 19, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Chicago Cubs relief pitcher Travis Wood throws a pitch against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 7th inning during game four of the 2016 NLCS playoff baseball series at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 19, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Chicago Cubs relief pitcher Travis Wood throws a pitch against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 7th inning during game four of the 2016 NLCS playoff baseball series at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Toronto Blue Jays are “heavily involved” in the left-handed relief market, according to a report from Jon Morosi on Monday morning.

Wood, Blevins, and Logan represent the upper echelon of remaining left-handed relievers and are expected to come at a premium price in an inflated free agent market that just earned fellow lefty Mike Dunn a three-year, $19 million deal with the Colorado Rockies.

In Wood, the Blue Jays would be looking at a converted starter who pitched 200.0 successful innings in 2013 before a down year in 2014 sent him to a relief role. Wood pitched lefties very well in 2016, holding them to a .447 OPS, but did get hit hard by right-handed hitters and is prone to fly balls (and home runs). His value will vary from team to team as front offices will view his future role differently.

Logan, who the Blue Jays were linked to ahead of the most recent MLB trade deadline, has posted some strong left-on-left splits of his own over the past two seasons.

The former Rockies reliever produced a 3.69 ERA last season over 46.1 innings of mostly specialist work, and has struck out more than 11.0 batters per nine innings in each of his last five seasons. His 0.8 WAR from 2016 represents a career high.

Blevins, who was reported earlier in this off-season by Ben Nicholson-Smith to be drawing interest from the Blue Jays, continues the trend of strong splits here. The 33-year old pitched 42.0 innings over 73 appearances and has held left-handed hitters to a career OPS of .588. Last season, he set a career high with 11.1 strikeouts per nine.

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Toronto’s interest in this trio, and those beneath them on the list of remaining free agents, does not come as a surprise given the current depth that they have in-house at the position. Aaron Loup is the only Blue Jays lefty with substantial MLB experience, and while Chad Girodo and Matt Dermody both offer upside, Toronto is lacking certainty from the left side.

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